Happy Valentines Day!



January . . . . .

I think it's about time to move on from my Christmas post. Especially since it is now February and we're coming up on Valentine's Day!  I always feel like my end of the year posts are themed.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.  January has no theme, which is actually pretty fun in itself.  Here's what we've been up to. 

Ava is obsessed with taking pictures with my camera.  I have hundreds.  I've chosen two of my favorites to share.  They crack me up.



From Random Blog

We had snow in Vegas.  Super exciting.  The kids were loving it and the whole thing had me laughing.

From Random Blog

Miss Ava has quite the attitude and imagination.  I went in to check on her after she'd fallen asleep and this is how I found her.  She had been going through her Strawberry Shortcake book and wanted to find an outfit just like Strawberry had on.  Well, Ava found her outfit and her closet became a disaster zone.  She also got a kitty hooded towel for Christmas and she's decided that it's fun to pretend to be a kitty and sleep in a kitty bed.  Don't ask me, but it sure keeps her entertained.

From Random Blog

We were able to get together with Randy's cousin Matt a few weeks ago.  Their little boy is about the same age as Kai and it was fun to see them play together.  This was the only picture out of I don't know many that both kids were looking at the camera.  The same night I was taking pictures of Ava sleeping, I decided to grab one of Kai.  Why is it that kids can sleep so soundly?  I know for a fact that if anyone tried to take my picture while I was sleeping, I would instantly wake up.  I think it's party of being a Mom. 

From Random Blog

Randy and I were downstairs one night when I heard giggling and water running.  This is what I found.  Ava kept telling me it was all Kai's idea.  Kai didn't realize he was being thrown under the bus so he didn't defend himself. :)  They definitely keep my laughing; and cleaning up messes.

From Random Blog

Christmas Day . . . .

At the beginning of the month, we had a Family Home Evening talking about the meaning of Christmas.  The first thing I asked Ava was why we celebrate Christmas.  She yelled enthusiastically, "To Get Presents!"  I then asked her who's birthday we are celebrating for Christmas and she yelled, "Santa Clause!"  She was so proud of herself thinking she had the right answers.  I, on the other hand, had failed as a mother.  That night we talked about the meaning of Christmas.  We made little presents for Jesus filled with the "gifts" we were giving him and hung them on the tree.  Ava got her own little nativity set to put in her room and she played with it the whole month.  We took the kids to a live nativity which was amazing.  Ava asked a million questions and loved seeing everything acted out.  We really focused on Christ this season and on Christmas Eve, Ava gave the whole family the shortened version of the Christmas Story.  I was really proud of my girl.  I also felt somewhat better about my ability to parent my children.  :)

We also started Elf on the Shelf which was such a highlight!  We named him Jazzy.  The kids loved finding him every morning and the hider himself enjoyed it almost as much!  Ava would find him first thing when she woke up.  She would tell us to not show Kai because he had to find him himself!  Then she would promptly run to Jazzy and point him out to Kai because she was so excited.  It is definitely a tradition we will be continuing.  My favorite part was reading Christmas books every night.  I put all of our Holiday books away until after Thanksgiving then we read them every night until Christmas is over.

What a fun Christmas Day we had!  Ava was so excited to put out Christmas cookies and milk and was even more excited to see the remains of them the next morning.  The kids let us all sleep until 8:30.  Merry Christmas to all of us!  Their big ticket items this year were a dollhouse and train set.  My sister mentioned that it could have been a Christmas straight out of the 50's with the gifts they got. 

This year was such an amazing Christmas and I'm sad to see it end.  I love the togetherness, hot cocoa, lights, Christmas tree, nativities, and excited smiles from my kids.  Such an amazing 2010 Christmas!

Christmas Eve . . . . . .

We started our Christmas Eve off with a trip to the Bellagio Conservatory to see the Christmas Display.  The kids loved it and it was a good distraction to pass the time because we were all a little anxious for family to arrive.

When my parents were on their way, Ava said, "Is tonight the night that I do a Gingerbread house with Grandma?"  Well, exactly one year earlier Ava did a Gingerbread house with my mom and they planned on doing it again.  I don't know how on earth Ava remembered that from an entire year earlier, but she did.  Well, Grandma delivered and another fabulous Gingerbread house was created.

The kids got some fabulous new jammies and slippers . . . . .

As did the rest of us . . . . .

The Singamajigs were a great hit.  My mom loved them so much she ended up buying three. 

What an amazing family we have!!!  (So amazing that the last sentence deserves 3 exclamation points).

December Adventures . . . .

We've lived in Las Vegas long enough that my kids are fascinated by rain.  They love it and Ava always wants to be right in it.  Honestly, she'll take any excuse to put on her pink rain boots, pink coat, and use her pink umbrella.  She's such a girl. 

We had the opportunity to go to a nursing home with Ava's preschool.  All of the kids sang and it was so great.  I prepared Ava for it by telling her that she was going to be singing Christmas songs to lots of Grandmas and Grandpas to make them happy.  Of course, being my curious girl, she wanted to know who's Grandma's and Grandpa's these people were.  I tried to tell her that I didn't know, but she was determined to find out.  On the way to the nursing home, I listed off a lot of random names of "grandkids."  She was satisfied with that.  Kai of course jumped in on the action.  They gave all of the people gingerbread men they had colored.  It was really sweet and Ava is a darn good little performer.  She also got to spend a lot of time with two of her favorite girls in the whole world, Miss Jolee and Miss Taylor. 

Randy would have preferred that I not publish this first picture, but I really couldn't resist.  Poor kid.  This just comes with having a big sister!  On another note, I heard Kai by the Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago and went in to get after him.  When I walked in I saw him kissing each and every ornament.  It was so cute!  These kids really loved our Christmas tree.  There are quite a few broken ornaments to prove it.